Coco Loco
by Red13Rabbit
Summary: Imelda Riviera is fifteen year old and in love. Hector is sweet and funny and writes her the most wonderful songs. The only problem? Music is banned in the Riviera household. All because of something that happened long before she was even born. Reverse AU Age swap Skeleton!Miguel Lving!Imelda


Imelda is thirteen when she first meets Hector. It's a hot summer day so Mariachi Plaza has fewer people than usual. She wonders closer to the young guitarist that had caught her ear some months before. His friend isn't with him today. He's playing La LLorona, her favorite song.

 _Ay de mí, Llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Ay de mí, Llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona_

 _No dejaré de quererte_

 _No dejaré de quererte_

She's mesmerized by his fingers dancing along his guitar. She doesn't notice that she starts humming along.

 _Me subi al pino mas alto, llorona_

 _A ver si te divisaba_

 _Me subi al pino mas alto, llorona_

 _A ver site divisaba_

 _Como el pino era tierno, llorona_

 _Al verme llorar, lloraba_

 _Como el pino era tierno, llorona_

 _Al verme llorar, lloraba_

She lets herself sing along. Quietly at first, but growing louder as her confidence builds.

 _La pena y la que no es pena, llorona_

 _Todo es pena para mi_

 _La pena y la que no es pena, llorona_

 _Todo es pena para mi_

 _Ayer lloraba por verte, llorona_

 _Hoy lloro porque te vi_

 _Ayer lloraba por verte, llorona_

 _Hoy lloro porque te vi_

She forgets where she is, forgets her families rules. All there is is her and the guitarist, and the music.

 _Ay, de mí llorona, llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Ay, de mí llorona, llorona_

 _Llorona de azul celeste_

 _Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona_

 _No dejare de quererte_

 _Y aunque la vida me cueste, llorona_

 _No dejare de quererte_

 _No dejare de quererte_

 _No dejare de quererte_

 _Ay, ay, ay_

As the song ends they just stare at each other.

"So what's a Riviera doing here? And one that sings no less," he says, breaking the silence. Imelda becomes aware of her surroundings again. Some people had stopped to listen to them apparently. She's filled with dread at the possibility of her Abuela find out about this. She considers bolting, but the damage is done.

"Just passing by. I like your guitar," she comments. It's a polished white with a skull design at the end of the neck.

"Thanks. It was broken when I found it. Had to do a lot of work to get it playable. I'm Hèctor by the way." He offers his hand.

"Imelda." They shake hands.

 **~1 month~**

"Imelda, this is Ernie. Ernie, this is Imelda!"

"Ernesto. So you're the one Hèctor has been head over heels for," he says as he shakes her hand. Hector's face goes red and Imelda laughs.

"Oh really?"

"Yeah. He hasn't shut up about you for a month!" He says despite Hectors attempts to shut him up.

"What has he been saying?"

"That you have the voice of an angel. That your the prettiest girl in town…"

"Please stop!" Hector begs. They both laugh, though now Imelda is blushing too.

 **~3 months~**

Imelda, Hector and Ernesto are all hanging out in the plaza. Hector and Ernesto are arguing about musicians.

"How can you think Miguel R. is better than Cesar de Perez?" He gestures to the statue of the musician in question. It stands tall on one side of the plaza. Cesar's smiling face, though carved in stone, looked the same as it did from his movies. The guitar that Ernesto held was clearly inspired by the famous musicians.

"Because," Hector says as he tunes his guitar, "Miguel R. wrote all of de Perez's best songs!"

"But he never played any of them! You don't even know if he could play!"

"Perez did have a strong stage presence," Imelda chimes in. "You don't even know his last name, why are you so obsessed with him?"

"Et tu Imelda?" He holds his hand to his heart and frowns dramatically. "You wound me. I admire him for his songs. Anybody can play a song well. It take a true artist to create one."

"Imelda!" Two voices shouted startling the trio. The boys turned to see two identical boys running up to them.

"Oscar, Philippe! What are you doing here?" Imelda snaps.

"Looking for you," one of them answers.

"What are you doing here?" The other one asks. They both have mischievous grins on their faces.

"Ugh," Imelda groaned and started rubbing her temples. "What will it take for you to keep this quiet?"

"Do some our chores," Oscar answered.

"And buy us candy," Philippe added.

"Fine," Imelda sighed.

 **~7 months~**

"So why doesn't your family like music?" Hector asks. Imelda sighs. She knew Hector would ask eventually, and is honestly surprised he lasted as long as he had.

"Do you want the short version or the long version?"

"Hmmm," he thinks about it for a moment. "Long," he decides.

"It all starts with my great great grandparents," she begins the story that had been told to her every Dia de los Muertos. "My Mama Luisa and my Papa Enrique married out of necessity rather than love. Mama Luisa's first husband cheated on her. With her own sister no less, who had been married to Papa Enrique at the time. When Mama Luisa found out, they both skipped town, leaving their spouses and children behind."

"So was one of them a musician or something?" Hector asks.

"No." She gives him a teasing smile. "You said you wanted the long version. So my Mama Luisa had two kids. A boy and a little girl. My Tia Coco," she clarifies. "Papa Enrique had four kids. My Tio's Berto, Manny, and Benny, and my Mama Rosa. Neither of them were confident they could raise their kids on their own. So they got married and started a business."

"The wood carving!" He guesses.

"That's right. Mama Luisa had a talent for wood carving. And Papa Enrique had knack for painting. Their pottery was a work of art. Their alebrije seemed to come to life. Most coveted though was their instruments."

"Wait! They made Instruments?!" The shocked look on his face is comical and makes her laugh.

"Yes. Believe it or not they used to love music. Anyway, they started the business. Tio Berto helped at the shop, while Mama Rosa and Coco's brother helped look after the three younger kids."

"You don't know the name of Coco's brother?" He interrupts again.

"No," Imelda sighs sadly. "Tia Coco has problems remembering things. If Tia Victoria, knows, she doesn't talk about it."

"So was he the musician?"

"Would you stop interrupting?" She glares at him for a moment before turning her glare to the ground. "Yes, he was. Mama Luisa and Papa Enrique taught their kids the art of the business, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a musician. He ran away from home. It broke Mama Luisa's heart. She couldn't look at an instrument without crying. Papa Enrique wasn't much better apparently. He would go really quiet whenever he heard music. The rest of the kids didn't know what to do. Finally Mama Rosa stepped up. She got rid of all the instruments. She kept music out of the house. It worked. Her parents got better. Ever since then, music has been banned from the Riviera household." They stand in silence for a while.

"But you like music?" Hector says hesitantly, making it a question.

"I love music! And I hate that I have to hide it from my family." She gives him a small smile, sad smile. "But they would sooner support me becoming a luchadora." Hector laughs.

"Well you don't have to hide from me." Imelda stares into his eyes for a moment. They are such a beautiful brown.

"You're right," She says. Then she leans in and kisses him. Their first kiss.

* * *

 **AN: So my first Coco fic! Hope you enjoy. To be clear, 11 months in total pass in this chapter**


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